Archive for the ‘Team’ Category

Just got back from Rum Cay Bahamas, another mind blowing trip guided by Bobby Little owner of the Sumner Point Resort and Marina on Rum Cay. Tons to do on paddle boards over there, surf, fish, dive, site see, and just enjoy what the island has to offer. enjoy the video and here is a link to some pics from my trip. click here to see video

Standup paddleboarding: Kam conquers ‘Channel of Bones’ – South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

Well…It looks like ill be on my way back to my favorite island in the Bahamas…Rum Cay!  My First team trip to Rum was in Dec. The first 24 hours i was there i shot a spear through my hand. I decided my injury was so bad to i stayed 2 weeks and had one of the best trips of my life even if i wasnt at 100%. I stalked bonefish in the salt pond and landed 3 bull sharks on the reefs all on  my Ark 14 footer.  Looking forward to another adventure with Mr Bobby Little!

I’ve been back home on Molokai for about a month now to prepare for this year’s world championship race from Molokai to Oahu (32 miles).  8x world champion prone paddleboarder, Jamie Mitchell, trains about 5 months prior to this race and I feel like I wish I could have started training months ago as well.

Currently I’m on the stand-up paddle surfing world tour and recently had to shift my focus from wave riding to racing.  Mexico, France, and Tahiti were all great places to visit but like they say, “there’s no place like home.”  After traveling the world for the past 2 years, I can tell you that there’s definitely no place like my home (Molokai).

In the past month we haven’t had a day without trade winds.  The down-wind runs have been some of the best runs I’ve EVER had.  I’ve been doing down-winders for almost 20 years now.  Although stand-up paddling is somewhat of a new sport, both outrigger canoe paddling and surfing has been in my family for 3 generations.  When I say I’ve been doing this a long time, I mean a really long time, so best down-winders EVER says a lot.

The layout of Molokai  is perfect for down-winders due to the prevailing trade winds, which blow from East to West.  Our 4 most common runs are 5 miles, 10 miles, 16 miles, and 20 miles long respectively (depending on how far one wants to surf).  I’ve been mixing it up on the stand-up, the one-man outrigger canoe, and two man-outrigger canoe and enjoying whatever craft I’m surfing that particular day.  Some days I’ll go for a 10 mile stand-up run in the morning and then take my 8 year old son for another 10 mile run on the 2-man canoe in the afternoon.

I’m no expert when it comes to training but I do know a little bit about specificity.  The Molokai to Oahu is a 32 mile race, of which 30, of those 32 miles, are down-wind.  I’ve heard of guys training for this race and doing 4 hours of uphill training in one day. (???)

Specificity means training exactly for what you’re going to be doing on race day.  That’s exactly what I’ve been doing here on Molokai.  The ideal training for the Molokai channel, if you had the time and resources, would be to paddle the course every weekend for 5 months.  The next best training is to do what I’ve been doing – going down-wind as much as possible.

Everyone talks about the Maliko Gultch run on Maui (9 miles) or the Hawaii Kai run on Oahu (9 miles) but those don’t even come close to the Kamalo run (10 miles) on Moloka’i.  I have the best training facility in the world for down-wind racing.  My secret to my success…..location, location, location.

Good luck with your training and remember….train smart.

Molokai ‘Mo Bettah!